The President of the United States

Election Day is the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November. You must be 18 years old to vote. The next presidential election will be in 2016. The presidency of the United States is a 4 year term obligation with a two term limit. The president is in charge of the executive branch. He is Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces; ensuring that our country is kept safe.

The Constitutional requirements to be president are:

1. be at least 35 years old
2. be a natural-born US citizen
3. live in the US for 14 years.

The constitution does not elaborate whether the 14 years can be cumulative or consecutive. John F. Kennedy was the youngest person to be elected president; he was 43 years old when he was inaugurated in 1961.

The President lives and works in the White House. In the White House, the president has an office. It is called the Oval Office. In over two hundred years, 44 presidents have worked in the White House. The address of the White House is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. The president flies on his own plane called Air Force One.

The president approves and vetoes laws. A presidential veto means that the president declines to sign the bill so it does not become law. When Congress sends him a new law, he may or may not agree to sign it. He lets Congress know about new laws he thinks should be passed and can use his influence to get them passed.

He makes agreements, called treaties, with other countries. A treaty is a formal, written agreement between sovereign states or between states and international organizations.